


Promise?

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Mike Wheeler, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Season/Series 01, mostly angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Promise you won’t leave me again, Will. I can’t…I can’t do this again. I can’t lose someone again.”





	Promise?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rewatching all of Stranger Things and can't stop writing. I've gotten a lot of messages for some fluff. This is not fluff, but it's the closest thing my shit brain can come up with.  
> Feel free to follow me on tumblr at ryomouwrites

Mike’s barely left his side the entire time he’s in the hospital, even though he’s there for nearly five days. Will doesn’t quite know why, but he’s subjected to test after test, checking his breathing, radiation level, hydration, nutrition. He’s treated for hypothermia and pneumonia and leaves with a round of antibiotics guaranteed to kill pretty much anything. Mike comes home with him too, after begging his mother who agrees under the condition that he stays for just one night. 

Mrs. Byers is completely understanding after everything the kids have been through, and believes that maybe being with a friend, her son will feel just a little bit safer being inside a home he’s been hiding in for nearly a week in a horrific alternate reality guaranteed to give her nightmares, even if she was only there for less than an hour.

They eat a dinner of lasagna, Will’s favorite, though he can only pick at it as the medicine upsets his stomach, and that night Mike rolls out a sleeping bag on the floor next to his bed. They leave the lights on.

“So,” Will starts, when it’s clear neither of them are going to sleep. “tell me more about Eleven.”

“Well, we call…called…her El,” Mike says, propping himself up on one elbow to see his friend better. “She was amazing, Will. I’ve never met anyone like her.”

“What was she like. I know about the powers but…what was she _like_?”

“She was…I dunno…I want to say innocent, but that’s not the right word. She saw too much to be innocent. Went through too much. But the way she understood things, the way she looked at the world, it was…it was incredible.”

Mike’s voice wavers for a moment, almost as if he’s going to cry.

“We found her the day after you went missing. The guys and I, we snuck out to go to Mirkwood and look for you, and instead, we found her. I hid her in my basement for a week.”

“You hid her in your _basement_?” Will rolls over on his side to see Mike better.

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t your parents find out?”

Mike scoffs.

“Hell no. I probably could have walked her through the house with the party saying we were going to play D&D and they wouldn’t have noticed.”

For the first time since the Upside Down, Will laughs, and Mike smiles up at him.

“She was so happy to help, Will. Even though it was dangerous, even though it could have…did…get her…killed…she was so happy to help. She was brave. Braver than anybody I’ve ever met. Braver than I knew anybody could ever be.”

“What did she look like?”

Mike’s face gets soft and contemplative.

“Pretty,” he says. “Her head was shaved. It sounds weird, I know, but…it suited her. All you could see was her face. Her eyes were big and brown, and she was just…pretty.”

“You liked her a lot, huh?”

Mike nods. He sits up then, crossing his arms along the edge of Will’s bed, and Will’s still lying down, so they’re close enough to whisper.

“I kissed her,” Mike confides.

“You _kissed_ her?”

“Yeah. I—I asked her to the Snow Ball, and I kissed her. But, then the Bad Men came, and then the Demogorgon, and…she was gone. She saved us. All of us.”

A single tear traces it’s way down his friend’s freckled cheek, and Will wishes he could wipe it away.

It’s been a secret he’s held in his heart for years, but Will has always liked Mike. As in _like_ like. It’s hard not to. El might have been pretty, but to Will, Mike is beautiful. He’s their fearless leader, reckless and gangly limbed, with a careless smile and hair that’s nearly impossible to tame. He’s like fire and Will…he’s a moth drawn to a flame.

Hearing that he’s kissed someone else hurts, but right now Mike’s eyes are deep and full of a sorrow so far beyond his years that Will can’t find it in himself to be jealous. Not even a little. He’s always known it’s impossible for Mike to like him back anyways. Everybody teases him for being queer, but he can’t let them know that it’s true.

He gently places his hand over one of his best friend’s own.

“I’m so sorry, Mike. I wish I could have met her.”

Mike sniffles.

“Yeah, I wish you could have too. She would have liked you. She really would have.”

Will removes his hand and they sit there for a while, enjoying the silence of the night, the quiet peace of not having anything to fear.

“I was so scared when you went missing, Will,” Mike whispers. “And then they pulled your body from the river, and it was like…everything stopped. The world just…stopped.”

Two more tears race down Mike’s cheeks.

“I’m here now, Mike. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“I know but…” Mike hesitates, drawing his lower lip between his teeth, a nervous habit he never seemed to be able to break.

“But what?” Will presses.

“Promise you won’t leave me again, Will. I can’t…I can’t do this again. I can’t lose someone again. I can’t lose _you_ again.”

The realistic side of him knows that life happens, that promising nothing bad will ever happen again is a promise he can’t exactly keep, but, for Mike’s sake, he’ll try his absolute best.

“Hey,” he shakes his friend’s arm to get him to look at him. “I promise, okay. I’m home now. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Will, do you think it’s possible to love two people at once?”

The words come out in a rush, as though Mike’s been waiting the whole night to say them. Will’s face still scrunches up at the sudden change in conversation.

“What?”

“Do you think you can love two people at once?”

“I mean…It probably depends on the situation, but, I guess.”

Then, Mike makes a noise that sounds like something between a laugh and a sob, and before Will can even blink, Mike’s surging up to kiss him.

On the mouth.

With his lips.

Mike’s lips on his lips. Right now. In his room.

All of a sudden, Will is aware of everything. He can feel his heart beating in his chest, so fast and so hard, it almost feels like the beat of a hummingbird’s wings. He can feel the sudden beads of sweat at the back of his neck from nerves. He can feel the plush softness of Mike’s lips against his own chapped ones, can lightly taste the spearmint of his toothpaste as he breathes him in. And then, as quickly as it started, it’s over.

“Whoa,” Will sighs.

“I’m sorry, I know I should have asked, I just—”

“No, no, it’s…it’s okay. I just, I didn’t know you liked boys?”

“I’m…I’m kind of confused about it, to be honest? Can you like both? Or maybe I just like you?”

“I…I dunno.” Will feels struck dumb, and vaguely wonders if he’s dreaming.

“Do…do you like boys.”

Considering Mike just _kissed him_ , Will feels safe enough to nod.

“I’ve been scared to tell anyone.”

Mike takes Will’s hand in his own and slowly tucks himself back into his sleeping bag.

“You never have to be scared to tell us anything, Will,” he assures. “Just promise me you’ll never leave again.”

Will gives Mike’s hand a squeeze.

“I promise.”


End file.
